Louise Thompson took to Instagram on Saturday to issue a sincere apology following major backlash on comments made by her and husband Ryan Libbey on their podcast.
Louise Thompson says she is “deeply devastated” as she apologised for her potty training comments made earlier this week. On Thursday, Louise and her partner, Ryan Libbey, sparked major backlash after appearing to mock children who are still in nappies when they start school.
Speaking on their podcast He Said, She Said, the couple spoke about a statistic that claims one in four children are sent to school before they are fully potty trained. Louise admitted the statistic “shocked” her before laughing when Ryan said “that’s a raw deal” for teacher who have to deal with it.
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The interaction sparked huge backlash from followers, with people pointing out different reasons children may still be in nappies, including Special Education Needs.
On Saturday, Louise took to her social media platforms to apologise and explained her intention wasn’t to offend anyone, assuring she has “tremendous admiration” for mothers struggling.
The former Made in Chelsea star told her followers: “The first thing I want to say is that I am just so sorry that I have upset anybody and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
“It was never our intention to go out there and offend so many people let alone a community of parents and children that have so many challenges as it is, and both Ryan and I are deeply devastated.”
Louise explained the context of the podcast clip: “The statistics we were referring to in the podcast that came from a Guardian article that was published back in January and it was not referring to children that has Special Education Needs or a disability, but it doesn’t matter because what this has taught us is that we should have considered those other groups of children and this is an area that is so under discovered.”
The podcast host said she had “watched all the videos and read all the comments” talking on the subject and was left with nothing but “tremendous admiration” for mums.
“I would love mothers that are struggling on a daily basis to keep messaging me so I have a better understanding of what you are going through and perhaps we can have a more informed conversation on the podcast at some point in the future as I think it is so important to keep raising awareness for these kinds of topics,” Louise added, encouraging ongoing feedback.
The former reality star has a stoma bag and has been very open with her followers about her medical condition and the journey she’s been on with it.
She described herself as having an “invisible disability” making her “particularly sensitive to these sorts of topics”.
“I think so much of the battle is finding the courage to speak up about them so that people that don’t understand them do, so we feel like a less marginalised group in society.”
Louise explained she hoped the entire incident would be the “beginning of a wider conversation” around the topic.
Concluding her statement, she finished off by saying: “I promise this has been ushc an important lesson and not one that I take lightly. If anything, it has given my lots of information to keep having these conversations across my platform.
“I have to say, it takes so much gut and gumption to advocate for your children so you should be so proud of yourselves and I totally understand where all of this energy is coming from as I have been that person too.
“Thanks for everyone who has DM [direct messaged] me and those who have said we should meet up to have a further conversation.”
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